Before the Worst
by Kalyra-Anne
Summary: "Do you ever wonder what life would have been like, had our child not been taken away?" Charlotte asked quietly, "All the time." He whispered to her. "Still as bitter as ever." Commented Elijah. S3 Spoilers, mild mentions of Klaulette, swearing warning.


**AN: So tumblr is just my second home, I've decided. Another quote that I found on there and I loved it to pieces and then this happened, it was meant to only be a little drabble and then I fitted it together with the original storyline that is currently happening at the moment, so I hope you like it and then obviously it would carry-on with the show at the end of this, I'll leave the rest up to your imagination.**

**By the way, there is a little swearing warning so please bear that in mind. Wicked.  
><strong>

**Thanks and enjoy it! :) xx**

* * *

><p>"Do you ever wonder what life would have been like, had our child not been taken away?" Charlotte asked quietly, it was a subject that was rarely ever brought up for the pain that endured was almost at the point of being unbearable.<p>

She had failed herself as a mother to her only child.

Despite the fact that over one thousand years had passed, the pain was still there, as was the horror of the night and that wasn't even including the bloodshed that followed after.

If anything, it made her own death, before commencing her transition into a vampire, look quite serene and in her own opinion; it was brutal in its own way.

Charlotte could still hear the screaming in her mind like it had all happened yesterday, it was burned in her memory, forever and always.

The crunch of the bones that were broken in an effort of torture; it truly was horrific and inhumane.

The critical moment came shortly after when the light left her daughter's eyes and so the prophecy began.

Charlotte at the time was a witch and casted the only spell that she could think of in an attempt for her child to live but it did not work or so she thought, instead, she created the doppelgangers.

Was this her punishment?

To live the rest of her damned life in regret with the memories of her only hope to be tortured to death.

For being involved in more ways than one with the original family.

And what was even worse was that it was the said family that had caused all of her suffering, including her lover and father of her only child.

"All the time." He whispered to her as the squeaking sound of wheels came into the room.

His answer was still little comfort to her.

One of his latest hybrids wheeled in the last of the coffins with the fourth missing one still remaining, which was the one that Charlotte wanted to get her hands on the most.

The whole Mikael fiasco was over and done with now, so they had one less nightmare to control although it seemed that Stefan Salvatore was quickly filling up that role.

Was it wrong that she just wanted to kill off all of his family?

And by that she meant for good, not just dagger dead, she already had that fulfilled.

After all, revenge was sweet but there was also a part of her that wanted to forgive but she could never forget the look of contorted pain on her daughter's face, this made her squeeze her hands so tight that the knuckles on her hands turned a ghastly white.

She did not say anything as his hybrid interrupted their moment of peace, or at least, peace in Mystic Falls.

"You've got your family back... finally." He said

This was true, it had not been easy to gain the coffins back and even now we were still one short but it was progress for sure.

Despite the fact that Klaus had to bend his own rules quite a bit as Stefan took over control, this was something that had angered Klaus to no end and she had most definitely got the blunt force trauma from it before she got him to snap out of it.

She watched Niklaus as he ran his hand over the smooth wood of the coffins; he looked satisfied to have them back.

He would open them eventually, after he had re-furbished and re-built this grand home that we were currently all in.

Charlotte would joke around that it was his headquarters for his new species rather than a home as that was what he was more focused on, regardless of his ambitions, she knew how his mind operated, he prioritises.

She stood and leant up against the door-frame, their tranquil moment of truth and confessions was long over, his mind was now elsewhere, and he of all people hated the time when it came to talk of the past.

It was not his style... At all.

Klaus turned around and looked at his hybrid, it looked as if he was contemplating something or perhaps sizing up his new pawn in the game.

"You're going to open them?" he asked

"Not quite yet." Answered Klaus and Charlotte wasn't sure if that was aimed at her for her own benefit or if he was going to reveal his plan to his hybrid, the possibility was highly unlikely, or at least that was what Charlotte thought in her own statistics.

There was plenty of time for the formalities to occur later.

"I still have some unfinished business to take care of." Said Klaus in a very pissed yet high authority way, perhaps some of it had gone to his head. He walked directly in path to her.

Although, Charlotte knew instantly what he was talking about.

The fourth and final coffin.

She raised her eyebrows at him but took his hand.

"What business?" asked the hybrid in a tone that was more than from the sire bond, something was going on behind the scenes and both originals felt the pull, they looked back at him curiously, and they were all directly opposite each other.

All of a sudden, the hybrid looked to be in a great amount of pain before it dropped to the floor with a loud thud and its red non-beating heart was in the air, held by no other than Elijah, Klaus' baby brother.

Klaus' mouth dropped slightly as he did a mini gasp but he tried to hide his reaction and as did Charlotte's mouth and she was pretty sure that her eyes were bulging out of her head in shock.

How on Earth?

None of them had removed the dagger, of that, they were both sure.

"So, Niklaus, Charlotte." Elijah greeted, the pure look of danger on his face

"Elijah." Klaus and Charlotte said in sync.

"What did I miss?" he asked casually.

Niklaus and Charlotte looked at each other, both in worry and Nik pulled Charlotte closer and behind him as he stood closer to Elijah.

Elijah threw the heart at a nearby wall carelessly and began wiping his hands clean with a handkerchief that he retrieved from his pocket.

"You look surprised to see me, so it wasn't you who removed the dagger from my chest." Said Elijah directly towards his brother, they were both sizing each other up.

"You look like you could do with a drink." Said Klaus, trying to divert his brother's attention away from that particular topic, "And we have a lot to discuss, so shall we?" he asked as held up his arm, to direct everyone's attention to the next room, this gave Charlotte the cue that she needed as she stood side by side to her lover, not daring to say a word because she knew that if she did, she would end up starting a fight that would only lead to a rampage.

"Perhaps, it was you, Charlotte." Said Elijah as he ignored his older brother completely and turned his attention towards the original Petrova.

"No," interrupted Niklaus, "She wouldn't dare."

This made Elijah scoff at that motion.

As if, he thought, danger was her middle name.

"Or maybe she has gone soft now that she has you to speak for her." Elijah taunted, he wanted a reaction.

Charlotte was fuming inside and her patience was already wearing thin.

Her temper snapped like a chain reaction.

"Just like when you spoke for your mother when you killed our daughter." Retorted Charlotte

"Still as bitter as ever." Commented Elijah lightly

"You have no right to bring that up, Elijah." Said Niklaus as he jumped into the conversation

"Just wait until I kill you, just like you killed her." She threatened

Elijah threw the handkerchief on the ground and jumped to pounce down on her with a punch but with superhuman speed, Niklaus pushed her out of harm's way and stepped in, trying to grip Elijah's by the front of his shirt.

But Niklaus did not succeed and was thrown into the next room, crashing down and successfully breaking the glass double door entry into her sitting room that she had just had installed.

He was up on all fours at once, he was growling now too.

"I had just finished renovating." Klaus growled before running at full speed into his brother and smashing him into some furniture.

The polished wooden table and matching chairs snapped into various sized pieces with a crash.

Klaus stood up, Charlotte let them be for now, and it was all going too fast.

Elijah was on the ground on his backside and Klaus was standing over him, his voice now haggard after the slight physical exertion.

"You know, you have every right to be mad at me but I kept my word and I re-united you with our family but she has nothing to do with this." Said Klaus

Elijah was up in an instant and got in two solid punches to Nik's face and then kicked him in the stomach, making Nik fly into the coffins of which he grabbed for support so that he could get back up to his feet.

There was no separating this from the sidelines; she would have to get involved regardless of the fuss that Niklaus would undoubtedly make.

She flipped open the coffin closest to her and grabbed the dagger from the current inhabitant and threw it at Elijah which just narrowly missed his arm, he had moved too quickly and Niklaus apparently had the same idea and had already flipped his brother into a nearby coffin, he had somehow miraculously caught the knife that Charlotte threw and he held Elijah down with the knife high in the air, it was ready to pierce his brother's heart.

Elijah held his hands up in an act that could easily be mistaken for surrender.

Charlotte stood at the edge of the room, not moving a muscle.

"Don't make me do this to you again, Elijah." Niklaus threatened

"Go on, use it. I dare you." Said Elijah, "You'll have Kol to deal with."

At this realisation, Niklaus lowered the dagger but kept his firm gripped on Elijah's neck for good measure.

"Mikael is dead." Said Charlotte, filling him in on the latest news that he had missed, after all, he did ask.

"What did you say?" asked Elijah in pure shock, no, that couldn't be true; he stood up as Niklaus let go of his brother.

"I killed him." Admitted Klaus, "With his own weapon. He's gone Elijah, forever."

"Why do our family remain in these coffins?" asked Elijah sourly, he always was the one that thought about collateral damage. "Finn for over nine hundred years, Kol for over a century."

"Because of Stefan Salvatore, he holds the one thing keeping me from freeing them. There are things that you do not know about, Elijah, about our past and our mother's death, things that I never wanted you to know about but now I am ready to tell you now." Explained Niklaus, "I only ask that you remember the oath of loyalty that you once swore to me."

Charlotte replaced the dagger into Kol's chest after re-dipping it into some more of the ashes of the great white oak tree.

"What are you doing?" Elijah asked Charlotte, trying to evade Niklaus' attention but it did not work

"Always and forever." Reminded Klaus, "I need you to stand by my side, be my brother, and help me. Destroy Stefan and I promise you that our family will be whole again."

Elijah was too focused on Niklaus' words to notice what Charlotte was doing until he felt a sharp pain in his back.

"You bastard." She said as she pushed the knife further, twisting it deeper into his flesh.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Let me know what you thought! :) I love to hear your opinions. x<strong>


End file.
